If this had been announced just a week ago, it could easily have been mistaken for a corporate April Fool's Day. But Dyson assures us that augmented reality vacuum cleaners are real and will arrive in June, sadly a bit late for spring cleaning.
Once launched during the summer, CleanTrace will be available on Dyson Gen5detect systems. The press photos betray the technology a bit, as it's aimed at mobile phones rather than things like the Apple Vision Pro or Meta Quest headset. While this kind of heads-up AR seems possible, it ultimately begs the question of how many people would want to vacuum with a computer on their head.
This system is a little silly and very unnecessary, but it's kind of fun, right? It's not enough to upset anyone on the fence about a $700 ultra-luxury vacuum cleaner, but it's not the most ridiculous thing Dyson has shown the world.
The company says this feature was influenced by its proprietary robot vacuum mapping. “We realized that everyone could learn a thing or two from the systematic cleaning approach of robot vacuums,” says Charlie Park, Dyson's vice president of engineering. “Unlike most humans who clean, Dyson's robots know where they are in the room, where they have been and where they haven't been yet.”
In the demo, the system creates a purple (Dyson color) overlay showing the path the vacuum has taken up to that point. The aim is to transform the entire room to that color, making sure to hit every spot, rather than simply relying on your technically outdated eye skills.
As someone who vacuums almost every morning, I tend to believe Dyson's point. “According to our research, consumers regularly overestimate their cleaning time. Data shows that around 80% of cleaning time takes less than 10 minutes, but people claim that On average, people vacuum for 24 minutes per session. ”
The ultimate conclusion of this statement is that most people hate vacuuming because most people hate housework. Therefore, we tend to significantly overestimate the amount of time we spend on it each day. If CleanTrace can save you a little time and make your process more efficient, that's a good thing. Will vacuum gamification be that far off if it ultimately proves popular with users?